1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicle seats. More particularly, the present invention relates to vehicle seats having air blowers that can send air toward passengers sitting on the vehicle seats.
2. Description of Related Art
A vehicle seat having an air blower is already known. Such a vehicle seat is taught, for example, by Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-34345. In the vehicle seat, the air blower is embedded in a seat back, so as to send air toward the back of a passenger sitting on the vehicle seat in order to provide cool air toward the passenger.
Generally, in such a vehicle seat, the air blower is an axial-flow blower having an axial-flow fan and is disposed on a central portion of the seat back. Therefore, it is necessary to form a sufficient-sized air chamber (space) in the central portion of the seat back, so that the axial-flow fan can aspirate air therefrom. However, the central portion of the seat back of the vehicle seat must be most easily flexed or deformed in order to increase sitting comfort of the passenger. Therefore, it is necessary to design the air chamber in anticipation of volume reduction thereof caused by deformation of the seat back. As a result, the seat back must be increased in thickness.
Further, in order to prevent rotation of the axial-flow fan from being disturbed when the seat back is pressed from before by the back of the passenger (or when the seat back is pressed from behind by the knees of a person sitting on a rear seat), the axial-flow fan is attached to the seat back so as to follow flexing motion of the central portion of the seat back. In particular, the axial-flow fan is attached to an elastic member (a spring member) of the seat back.
However, the thickened seat back may cause a vehicle cabin to narrow. In addition, the thickened seat back may have inferior appearance.
Further, when the axial-flow fan is attached to the elastic member of the seat back, the elastic member can resonate with vibration caused by rotation of the axial-flow fan. Resonantly-generated vibration of the elastic member may sometimes provide strong discomfort to the passenger. Therefore, it is necessary to design the elastic member in order to eliminate resonance of the elastic member. This may lead to increased manufacturing costs.